# Racism!



## Shiny Grimer (Sep 18, 2009)

Time to start this up again!

So, how do you feel about racism? Do you think it's 'over' or is it still alive and strong? How strongly would you rate any prejudiced tendencies/thoughts you might have? Have you ever experienced racism or prejudice because of race/ethnicity?

Personal experience: My mom told me this since apparently I was too young to remember, or hadn't noticed: I was once at a McDonalds. I was speaking with this kid. My mom called me over, and spoke to her (in Spanish). The kid made this face and said "Spanish?!" and went to his dad. That's right, ladies and gentlemen, your first language tells you all you needed to know about your personal character!

I look pretty "white" and I live in an area full of Hispanic people, so I can't say I've experienced any to-my-face racism. I get quite angry witnessing racist acts or hearing people say racist things, even if they don't think it's racist. Ugh.


----------



## nothing to see here (Sep 18, 2009)

I'd say racism is definitely still around... it just isn't quite as "out in the open" as it used to be.  You still have the occasional violence or big discrimination lawsuits that you hear about in the news, but most people know that racism isn't tolerated as much as it used to be, and they'll usually try to keep it quiet unless they're sure that everyone else around them is just as racist as they are (or if they're drunk or think they can get away with it--I've see a lot of racial stuff in bathroom stall graffiti around here.)  Not sure about other parts of the world, but that's about the way it seems where I live.

I don't really care much about race myself... I've had white, black, Arab, Japanese, Indian, Native American, and Latino friends/teachers/etc. in the past, and what race any of them belonged to never really made much of a difference except occasionally generating something interesting to talk about (one Native American guy knew some old stories that his family passed down to him, the two Arab girls had seen parts of the world I've never really even thought much about, and so on.)

I figure if I'm going to hate someone, it's going to be because of who they are, not what language they speak or what skin color/hair color/eye color/random-string-of-DNA-that's-different-than-mine they have.


----------



## ultraviolet (Sep 18, 2009)

Racism is still pretty strong in Australia, particularly between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.


----------



## J.T. (Sep 18, 2009)

Still alive; a friend of mine (black) said she once asked a person to move so she could get to the back of the bus, and was told she "belonged there anyway".

Luckily, there's a lot racist people around, and they're less vocal.


----------



## see ya (Sep 18, 2009)

My family was pretty much disowned by both of my sets of grandparents, people that I had trusted and loved, because my dad has a black girlfriend. Racism is definitely, _definitely_ not dead. It's fun to see your kindly, almost stereotypical grandma start frothing at the mouth. 

So yeah, fuck racism. And fuck the Southern United States.


----------



## Storm Earth and Fire (Sep 18, 2009)

Skymin said:


> My family was pretty much disowned by both of my sets of grandparents, people that I had trusted and loved, because my dad has a black girlfriend.


My dad's family would do the same thing. They'd also shun us if it turned out we were gay, but that's a different discussion.

Not because we're Southerners, though. First-generation Chinese immigrants typically don't trust black people.

Interestingly enough, my dad calls them negros sometimes, but the way he pronounces it makes me think he derived it from Spanish.

Racism is just one of those unavoidable parts of living in a multiracial community not long after legal racism was abolished. I don't like it, but I think it is fading, slowly but surely.

I grew up in a white neighborhood, but also never experienced any to-my-face racism. And now I'm going to a uni that's almost entirely whites and Asians, so being racist here is a bit silly.

Just about any prejudice I draw is purely in jest, as I tend to make racist jokes a lot. 

I also stereotype the contrasts between mainlanders and Taiwanese all the time, and sometimes between Northern and Southern Chinese. Sometimes I think we might as well be considered different ethnic groups.


----------



## Aobaru (Sep 18, 2009)

Skymin said:


> So yeah, fuck racism. And fuck the Southern United States.


_I live in South Carolina!~_

My first cousin (female) is dating a black guy. So when my family gets together for Thanksgiving or another holiday, _she's not allowed to bring him_. My grandpa said "he wouldn't let him darken his house", and he would shoot him if he set foot on the property.

But, yeah, too many racists here to count. I need to get the hell out of here.


----------



## Adriane (Sep 18, 2009)

It is quite bad here. Wasn't the capitol building still flying the Confederate flag on top until Spurrier got involved?

At any rate, there are too many people who can't give up the past, and these peoples' children are taking it to heart. The "Heritage, not hate" bit is a load of you-know-what.


----------



## see ya (Sep 18, 2009)

Mudkip said:


> The "Heritage, not hate" bit is a load of you-know-what.


Oh God I am so sick of that bullshit. You know what their precious fucking "heritage" is? Poor white folks fighting a war so the aristocratic upper-class could have the right to treat humans like cattle under some stupid "state's rights" excuse. Some asshole at my work tries to pull this on me to try to justify why he has a Confederate flag stuck on his truck. Ugh...


----------



## Lady Grimdour (Sep 18, 2009)

It's been dead for years.

The only racism I get is the "British Rivalry" type. Like how this new girl often gets called out for being English, or how the "AZNZ (Middle Eastern)" call out the Far-Eastern Asians and stuff.

It's mostly banter, and the new girl's quite popular with everyone. It's just that culture where we're supposed to hate the English for no apparent reason.


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 18, 2009)

eh, London seems pretty unracist. generally the only people who are open about their unsavoury views are the BNP and some crusty old folks who no-one listens to.

I kinda like it. you can just walk down the street and see at least three or four different races. you get on a bus and hear Polish, French, Urdu, loads of stuff. and it's not just simply multiculturism - there genuinely seems to be a move towards social inclusion. in the City, you'll see people of all kinds wearing the same suits, going to work together. also, inter-racial marriage is basically a non-issue. sure, there's still much that can be done, but it's nice to see that we're making progress.

it's a shame that the situation in the capital isn't representative of the country as a whole. ):


----------



## Minish (Sep 18, 2009)

I think it's not as much of an issue here in the UK. Mainly because lots of people here don't give a crap about anything much though, mind. Seriously. On the street or in school people will make the occasional racist, sexist or homophobic remark but don't _actually_ care all that much. Not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing...

Anyway, my county is apparently the less ethnically diverse one in the entire country (around 98% are white), and I barely even see anybody of a different race. There are maybe around ten non-white people in my school, out of about 1700 or something? And still nobody's really that racist. I would think if they're not around people of a different race they'd be worse, but not really. The most we get is people sort of mini double-taking whenever they have to talk face-to-face with a black person. I do that too, I'm so unused to seeing a dark face that I'm a little... I wouldn't say wary, but like, sort of jittery in an effort not to be racist. I know it sounds dumb and might even sound racist, but hey. I'm not.

It's like smoking. Used to be cool but now people know even popular, accepted kids at school will think they're dumb if they're racist (I know I've just been talking about in school, but whatever, like I said this county has hardly anyone of other races).

Now, if we're talking about the _Polish_... since we've basically been told we have to hate people 'coming over here for jobs all the time', if you mention the word Polish you'll probably get some idiot ranting about how British jobs are for British people and they're ruining the country and whatever, even though they'll probably never have met a Polish person and will know nothing about the situation.


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 18, 2009)

> I think it's not as much of an issue here in the UK. Mainly because lots of people here don't give a crap about anything much though, mind. Seriously. On the street or in school people will make the occasional racist, sexist or homophobic remark but don't actually care all that much. Not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing...


apathy and strongly-worded letters to the _Guardian_ is the British way. it's why I love this country so much. :D



> Now, if we're talking about the _Polish_...


fun, slightly-depressing bit of irony: my mum says that when she was doing outreach work, she discovered that first- and second-generation black immigrants from the Caribbean, who had to endure some pretty nasty abuse back in the day, are among the most violently anti-Polish groups around. ):



> I do that too, I'm so unused to seeing a dark face that I'm a little... I wouldn't say wary, but like, sort of jittery in an effort not to be racist. I know it sounds dumb and might even sound racist, but hey. I'm not.


eh, that's prolly just inexperience. I think if I ever met a mixed-race Chinese/African kid, I'd be all "woah dude" simply because I've never met anyone like that before.


----------



## glitchedgamer (Sep 18, 2009)

It's my belief that it is in our genes to hate other people. Why? Because they're competition. Obviously, things have changed a lot since our primal days, and the whole survival of the fittest thing means nothing to modern man, but I still think it affects us today.

Racism is still here today and will always be around. People will continue to hate those who are different. That's just how it is. Luckily, it is less wide spread than in the past, and any remotely intelligent person realizes racism is pointless.

If you mean national, 1960's America style racism, yeah, that's dead.


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 18, 2009)

Cirrus said:


> Now, if we're talking about the _Polish_... since we've basically been told we have to hate people 'coming over here for jobs all the time', if you mention the word Polish you'll probably get some idiot ranting about how British jobs are for British people and they're ruining the country and whatever, even though they'll probably never have met a Polish person and will know nothing about the situation.


I'm white and non-Polish, can I come steal a job in a few years
Help me Brits


----------



## Jolty (Sep 18, 2009)

Grimdour The Desecrater said:


> It's mostly banter, and the new girl's quite popular with everyone. It's just that culture where we're supposed to hate the English for no apparent reason.


_I KNEW IT_
we don't mind you guys!!! sheep related insults aside! but those bloody Scots, don't get me started

and er I still see a bit of racism about, mostly people complaining about "bloody foreigners" everywhere but that's all I can think of


----------



## Yarnchu (Sep 18, 2009)

It's natural for people to mock, fear, and/or hate something that's different from them. They can grow beyound that stage as children, but if they were raised to feel that way....racism spawns. What really bothers me is how "nigger" has become a slang term used by black people in my area, and probably the rest of the US. It's like they don't care about the history of the word. :(

Something regarding racism and Europe: well, in Middle School I started to read some of Agatha Christies' novels. Great books, but thats besides the point. Anyways, I was very suprised to see the various races found in some of the novels(particular the ones about Poirot) because in the era they are set in, America was really racist. Almost the opposite seems to be true in the novels, but I think there were some mentions of racism. It's been a while since I've read them.


----------



## H-land (Sep 18, 2009)

superyoshi888 said:


> What really bothers me is how "nigger" has become a slang term used by black people in my area, and probably the rest of the US. It's like they don't care about the history of the word. :(


I don't believe that that's a problem, that they want to use that word. That they use it in lieu of "man", "guy", and "dude" is a minor issue.
I think that the real problem is that if anybody who _isn't_ black says the word "nigger", then they're labeled a racist. I don't believe that it's an intrinsically bad word. I think that I'm in the minority here, though, and I'm not in the mood for writing a well worded argument, so I'll just leave it at that.


----------



## opaltiger (Sep 18, 2009)

> It's my belief that it is in our genes to hate other people. Why? Because they're competition. Obviously, things have changed a lot since our primal days, and the whole survival of the fittest thing means nothing to modern man, but I still think it affects us today.


...

I hate to be rude. I really do. But.

_Do you know anything about evolutionary theory?_ More specifically, sociobiology? The field of biology that attempts to explain social behaviour in animals, one of the most common and widespread being _altruism?_

There is _nothing_ more annoying than people with only a cursory understanding of the concepts involved trying to explain things like racism in terms of evolutionary theory. I'm sorry, but please don't make statements like that unless you're _immediately_ ready to back them up.



> If you mean national, 1960's America style racism, yeah, that's dead.


America != the world.


----------



## Tailsy (Sep 18, 2009)

Jolty said:


> but those bloody Scots, don't get me started


I HEARD THAT

In Scotland we're just like \o/ uhhhh oh right immigrants er well we don't actually have very many jobs left because we accidentally a post-industrial nation but we're busy being hated for releasing prisoners with terminal cancer sooo

I don't see very many people being racist, anyway. Maybe it's all the posters screaming WE'RE A DIVERSE NATION!!!! 
Of course we're bloody diverse half the nation isn't even Scottish
We're all arsing Irish!

There's a lot of Polish kids coming into our school, now! They don't speak very much English which is a shame :( One of my friends is half-Polish and speaks it fluently so it's a huge stress on her, basically, because she's TRANSLATOR WOMAN and she's also taking four Advanced Highers so yeah.


----------



## Fist of the Beast King (Sep 18, 2009)

I am no racist, my girlfriend is black, but I haven't heard from her in like... two months! I have ABSOLUTE ZERO tolerance for racism! 

And I hate those fucking Nazis! They deserve a whopping taste of their own medicine!


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 18, 2009)

Bye turbo.


----------



## Fist of the Beast King (Sep 18, 2009)

Vladimir Putin's LJ said:


> Bye turbo.


Who's Turbo?


----------



## Zeph (Sep 18, 2009)

You. We aren't that stupid! You should probably give up.

Erm, racism. Dislike greatly. Although on occasion, jokes that aren't too harsh can be funny if they do not have malicious intent and are just in good humour.


----------



## Storm Earth and Fire (Sep 18, 2009)

Honalululand said:


> I don't believe that that's a problem, that they want to use that word. That they use it in lieu of "man", "guy", and "dude" is a minor issue.
> I think that the real problem is that if anybody who _isn't_ black says the word "nigger", then they're labeled a racist. I don't believe that it's an intrinsically bad word. I think that I'm in the minority here, though, and I'm not in the mood for writing a well worded argument, so I'll just leave it at that.


I personally would be willing to take it a step further and say that this indicates progress, if anything, if a racial slur can become an accepted word amongst the group it refers to. 

Now we just have to transform it into a word everyone can use.


----------



## Ruby (Sep 19, 2009)

There are racists where I am, central London.  Most of them are the sort who have a stubborn feeling that black people as a group are intellectually inferior, but who would never make plans to harm them and are not against equal rights.  I think they are the commonest sort in Europe.  When there is real _resentment_ and spite, in London at least, it is against not black people but Muslims and Hindus and anyone who appears to come from between the Middle East and Bangladesh.


----------



## glitchedgamer (Sep 19, 2009)

opaltiger said:


> ...
> 
> I hate to be rude. I really do. But.
> 
> ...


*hides in corner*
I'll keep that in mind :dead:

New opinion: People are afraid of the unknown and anything that is different. That is all.


----------



## Yarnchu (Sep 19, 2009)

But of course America is the world. Why else do we barge in to other countries for oil and have people in China make our goods?

In all seriousness, with that word, it is progress....but it still bothers me. I'm not really sure why. Maybe it's because I've been raised in such a PC world? '~'


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 19, 2009)

Ruby said:


> There are racists where I am, central London.  Most of them are the sort who have a stubborn feeling that black people as a group are intellectually inferior, but who would never make plans to harm them and are not against equal rights.  I think they are the commonest sort in Europe.  When there is real _resentment_ and spite, in London at least, it is against not black people but Muslims and Hindus and anyone who appears to come from between the Middle East and Bangladesh.


Pretty much.


----------



## Zuu (Sep 19, 2009)

H. P. Lovecraft - Level 20 Racist


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 19, 2009)

Dezzuu said:


> H. P. Lovecraft - Level 20 Racist


my cat niggerman


----------



## Butterfree (Sep 19, 2009)

People of other races are relatively uncommon in Iceland, so it's always a sort of "whoa" experience to be around one, but that's not quite racism. There is fear of the unfamiliar, but I'd say true racism would be hostility towards races that _are_ familiar, based on actual beliefs about people of those races.

There are a lot of people who are all "DAMN POLES TAKING OUR JOBS" and there is a teensy political party (I don't think they got into parliament at all in the last elections) that advocates a sort of Iceland-is-superior policy, but otherwise I generally don't get the impression there is a lot of that kind of racism around. Then again, the people I hang around with are generally pretty intelligent and multiculturalist. The latter time I went to the IMO, one of my teammates kept cracking racist jokes and they made a lot of comments about how everybody was Asian and stuff, but I've decided to charitably interpret that as just having been tasteless humor more than actual racism so as to preserve my faith in humanity. :/


----------



## Zuu (Sep 19, 2009)

Vladimir Putin's LJ said:


> my cat niggerman


IDEA FOR SHORT STORY: ANCIENT NEGRO VOODOO DOCTOR POSSESSES A WHITE MAN


----------



## Tigerclaw (Sep 19, 2009)

Racism disgusts me. People are people, no matter what the color of their skin is.


----------



## Tarvos (Sep 26, 2009)

it's against muslims more than blacks nowadays

i'm with a jewish girl though so uh


----------



## Loco Mocho (Sep 27, 2009)

Racism is stupid, for you evoulotionists out there we have 99% the same DNA as a chimpanzee! Wouldnt that make skin color one or two genes.
. And despite being white I am battered with "Dumb Pollock" Jokes and the worst part of it is my school dosen't care yet if I were to be racist against spanish i would be in ISS and probably jumped! (then again I live in new mexico where whites are the miniorty)


----------



## Vladimir Putin's LJ (Sep 27, 2009)

It's ~95% similar DNA and no, I'm pretty sure it actually works in favour of people who believe in evolution since humans evolved features to adapt to their environment?


----------



## Harlequin (Sep 27, 2009)

fuckin' niggers.

>:(

(no niggers are cool you know? equal rights, people are people etc.)


----------



## Zuu (Sep 27, 2009)

The3FightingDragons said:


> . And despite being white I am battered with "Dumb Pollock" Jokes and the worst part of it is my school dosen't care yet if I were to be racist against spanish i would be in ISS and probably jumped! (then again I live in new mexico where whites are the miniorty)


the worst part of it is that you sound racist


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 28, 2009)

> And despite being white I am battered with "Dumb Pollock" Jokes and the worst part of it is my school dosen't care


if you care all that much about what some dumb kids are saying then do something about it yourself. don't go crying to authority about every bit of tough shit that comes your way.



> yet if I were to be racist against spanish i would be in ISS and probably jumped!


then take a lesson from them! hang out with other Poles (I assume you're Polish, since googling "dumb pollack" brings up stuff about racial abuse against Poles) and "jump" people who take the mick out of your race.

or just stop caring? it doesn't sound like you've got it terribly bad. people take the shit out of me for being half-German, but I just laugh it off.



> (then again I live in new mexico where whites are the miniorty)


100% guaranteed that this is bullshit.


----------



## opaltiger (Sep 28, 2009)

goldenquagsire said:


> 100% guaranteed that this is bullshit.


 Actually:



			
				wiki said:
			
		

> According to estimates from the United States Census Bureau's Population Estimate Program, on July 1, 2007 the population of New Mexico was 1,969,915, and the number of New Mexicans of these single races were: White, 1,663,821 (84.46%); Black, 56,083 (2.85%); American Indian or Alaskan Native, 186,256 (9.46%); Asian, 27,722 (1.41%); and Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander, 2,787 (0.14%). There were 33,246 (1.69%) of two or more races. Whites are broken into Hispanic and non-Hispanic. There were 874,688 (44.40%) Hispanics. White persons not Hispanic 833,274 (42.3%).


Close, but whites are the minority.


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 29, 2009)

> Close, but whites are the minority.


fine.

whites might have a *statistical* minority but I guarantee you that it sure ain't them darned Mexicans running the show in New Mexico.


----------



## Storm Earth and Fire (Sep 29, 2009)

goldenquagsire said:


> 100% guaranteed that this is bullshit.


New Mexico actually is a minority-majority state, though, which means that non-Hispanic whites actually are the minority. Same situation in Texas and California, and it's pretty much always been the case in Hawaii.

At least, that's an estimation the US census bureau made. We have another census coming up next year and it really wouldn't surprise me if it were confirmed. Not to mention that plenty of non-nationals don't get counted.

Recall that the last census was 2000, demographics have changed greatly since then.

Actually, if you really want to feel right, then whites are the majority in a way, just that a large section of them, maybe most, identify as Hispanic as well, which may throw you off.


----------



## Lars The Turtwig (Sep 29, 2009)

Well, Im slight tan, so some people call me 'go work slave' or 'you come from africa don't you?', although im really not that tan. Its only slight. Anyway, since im half german, lots of people call me 'nazy scum', 'german scum', or pesk around me like pests, saying that either 'you nazy/german scum must be tortured to purify the world', or 'nazy/german scum must be destroyed!'.

Anyway, vIm against rasicm, and some male racists found out that they're private place was missing after saying it... okay, that's a little too far, but they *did* feel my wrath.
((that's what comes when I dont wash my docks for 2 months))


----------



## goldenquagsire (Sep 29, 2009)

Twiggy for victory said:


> Well, Im *slight tan*, so some people call me *'go work slave'* or 'you come from africa don't you?', although im really not that tan. Its only slight. Anyway, since im half german, lots of people call me 'nazy scum', 'german scum', or pesk around me like pests, saying that either *'you nazy/german scum must be tortured to purify the world'*, or 'nazy/german scum must be destroyed!'.


good god what kind of messed-up people do you know.


----------



## Dannichu (Sep 30, 2009)

Butterfree said:


> People of other races are relatively uncommon in Iceland, so it's always a sort of "whoa" experience to be around one, but that's not quite racism.


Pretty much the exact same in Devon (and pretty much the whole South-West of the Uk in my experience); racial minorities aren't discriminated against as much as they tend to get second glances because they're unexpected. There's an aging population that mostly reads the Daily Mail, so there's a bit of "them foreigners stealing our jobs" going on, but I've heard people called out on it a few times - my favourite time being when a friend of mine said it and before I could say anything, my mother (who he likes more than his own mother) sharply told him that both her parents were immigrants to the country.

Kent is the only British university, so I am told, that takes in enough international students (somewhere between a quarter and a half of the students are from overseas) to truly call itself "multicultural", which I think is pretty nifty. If there's any racism on campus, I haven't seen it, and given nearly half of Canterbury's population are students, I haven't seen/heard any racism on the streets in town, either.


----------



## Lars The Turtwig (Sep 30, 2009)

*AHEM.*  Yes that's what you get when you're stuck near insult machines for 4 years.

P.S. I said Im *HALF* German. Other half asian.


----------

